Rob Cohen (director of the first film) and Vin Diesel (star of the first film) had both signed on to work on this sequel. Cohen had even begun early work on the project, after having very much enjoyed his work on the first film. However, due to time constraints and scheduling conflicts with other projects, both had to drop out of their respective roles, and Diesel was unceremoniously "killed off" in this film through a brief dialog reference to his character having been assassinated between films. Both Diesel and Cohen were unsatisfied with this film and the hasty removal of Diesel, and have since both expressed interest in making a third film in the series to bring his character back.